Patients urged to visit A&E alone as NHS struggling with 'sustained pressures' amid increasing flu patients

A number of NHS hospitals across the country have declared critical incidents over the past few days following ‘exceptionally high demand’.

This is partly due to the rising number of patients experiencing the flu and there are approximately 5,000 hospital beds in England are occupied with flu patients.

Hospitals in Northamptonshire, Cornwall, Liverpool, Hampshire, Birmingham and Plymouth have all declared critical incidents in recent days.

Critical incidents can be declared when health and care services are so busy that special measures are needed to restore normal operations and keep patients safe.

The Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust wrote on its website: “This morning (Tuesday, January 7), Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust declared a critical incident due to sustained pressures at our Basingstoke and Winchester hospitals.

“These include a high admission rate, a high number of infectious patients requiring isolation, and a low discharge rate.

“This decision has not been taken lightly; however, beds across both hospitals are full and attendance at our emergency departments is extremely high, which means there is currently no capacity to admit further patients needing our care.”

Last week, NHS data revealed the number of people in hospital with flu in England was more than four times the level it was a month ago, with officials warning cases are ‘rising at a very concerning rate.’

Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said working conditions for staff are ‘incredibly difficult’ owing to inadequate NHS buildings with not enough room for patients.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What we’re also seeing is this challenge of flow of patients through the system and increasing demand, which has led to these critical incidents being declared across a number of trusts, and uniquely, actually across ambulance services as well.”

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